Arsene Wenger is uptimistic that Nigeria will qualify out of the World Cup knockout stage

Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, has said Nigeria is amount the country to qualify alongside Argentina from Group F of the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil.
According to the Frenchman's preview for Eurosport, he explained that his choice of picking Nigeria to qualify with Argentina from Group F ahead of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iran is based on what he perceives as "a really good team spirit" by the African champions.

Wenger also dissected Argentina and identified their attacking personnel as their strength.

He, however, expressed concern in Alejandro Sabella's team creating a fine balance in defence and offence "because they don’t have as many choices in defence."

"Normally Argentina should qualify thanks to their offensive potential. You’d might even say that Argentina have too many good players in attack. It’s not easy to be a manager in Argentina, because it’s hard to build a balanced team when without leaving some indisputable players off the field.

"They have Higuain, Messi, Aguero, and Tevez, who didn't even make the final squad. They have so many forwards; it will be very hard to keep a balanced team. It’s what happened in South Africa. Still, Sabella’s team seems more balanced than Maradona’s.

"They can’t make a mess of this World Cup; Argentina just can’t. The two main rivals in South America are Brazil and Argentina. There can’t be a World Cup in Brazil and Argentina be humiliated and not have a great tournament. They will have a huge pressure on them.

"But will Messi be at his best? I hope so for them. Will this team find a nice balance between defence and offense? Because they don’t have as many choices in defence. I hope so for them. Because, in order to have a great World Cup, we need a great team from Argentina.

"I don’t know about second place. I think that Nigeria might qualify for the second stage. They really made a good impression on me during the African Cup of Nations. They seem to have a really good team spirit, which is not always easy for African teams. They have less star players. They have a real team, and it’s been a while since that happened for them," Wenger stated.

Nigeria will start their World Cup campaign against Iran at the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba on June 16.Culled from Supersports News.